Until last night I've been running pretty badly in cash games and more annoyingly on tourny bubbles but now I can't moan for a while.

Last night I 11 tabled $20NL for 43 minutes and made $158.52. Beforehand I was beginning to think luck didn't exist for me and that the micros were getting a lot tougher. However after last night I'm turned around:

First up a nice 1 outer:

GAME #1214077483: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 2008-10-13 17:39:04
Table "TURBO" LaFontaine
Seat 1: jansherKD ($19.72 in chips)
Seat 5: Raidhaad ($20.30 in chips)
Seat 6: AceSweaty ($19.70 in chips) DEALER
Seat 8: Youreatowel ($22.61 in chips)
Seat 10: ltunde1 ($10.40 in chips)
Youreatowel: Post SB $0.10
ltunde1: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [S4 D4]
jansherKD: Fold
Raidhaad: Raise (NF) $0.80
AceSweaty: Call $0.80
Youreatowel: Fold
ltunde1: Call $0.60
*** FLOP *** [S5 S8 H4]
ltunde1: Check
Raidhaad: Check
AceSweaty: Bet $1.80
ltunde1: Raise (NF) $9.60
Raidhaad: Raise (NF) $19.50
AceSweaty: Allin $17.10
*** TURN *** [C4]
*** RIVER *** [C6]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $49.50 Rake $1.00
Raidhaad: Shows [D8 C8]
ltunde1: Shows [HA D5]
Raidhaad: wins $0.60
AceSweaty: wins $48.90

Not sure I like my river shove or not, I just can't pin river C/R's on guys at these stakes:

GAME #1214073003: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 2008-10-13 17:36:49
Table "TURBO" LaGrange
Seat 1: Zeepoxx ($19.00 in chips)
Seat 3: NightFishRipper ($19.10 in chips)
Seat 5: AceSweaty ($29.88 in chips)
Seat 6: jansherKD ($43.87 in chips) DEALER
Seat 8: mimounee ($33.17 in chips)
Seat 10: sever99 ($29.46 in chips)
mimounee: Post SB $0.10
sever99: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [DA CK]
Zeepoxx: Fold
NightFishRipper: Fold
AceSweaty: Raise (NF) $0.80
jansherKD: Fold
mimounee: Raise (NF) $2.60
sever99: Fold
AceSweaty: Call $1.80
*** FLOP *** [DK H5 C7]
mimounee: Bet $3.00
AceSweaty: Call $3.00
*** TURN *** [HQ]
mimounee: Bet $6.00
AceSweaty: Call $6.00
*** RIVER *** [D6]
mimounee: Check
AceSweaty: Bet $18.28
mimounee: Call $18.28
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $58.96 Rake $1.00
mimounee: Shows [S10 H10]
AceSweaty: wins $58.96

Finally, one of the wierdest hands I've played in a while and is one of those 'ohhhhh crap another cooler' spots on the river:

GAME #1214096599: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 2008-10-13 17:48:17
Table Argonauts
Seat 1: ajenny ($36.77 in chips)
Seat 3: ABCGrinder ($53.45 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: EcsmoBerliin ($19.80 in chips)
Seat 6: XtrilliumX ($25.83 in chips)
Seat 8: Donplayer ($20.30 in chips)
Seat 10: AceSweaty ($20.73 in chips)
EcsmoBerliin: Post SB $0.10
XtrilliumX: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [C3 D3]
Donplayer: Fold
AceSweaty: Raise (NF) $0.80
ajenny: Raise (NF) $1.40
ABCGrinder: Fold
EcsmoBerliin: Fold
XtrilliumX: Fold
AceSweaty: Call $0.60
*** FLOP *** [H6 S3 D8]
AceSweaty: Check
ajenny: Check
*** TURN *** [H5]
AceSweaty: Bet $3.10
ajenny: Call $3.10
*** RIVER *** [H8]
AceSweaty: Bet $9.30
ajenny: Raise (NF) $32.27
AceSweaty: Allin $6.93
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $56.80 Rake $1.00
ajenny: Shows [SK CK]
ajenny: wins $16.04
AceSweaty: wins $40.76

Overall pleased with most of my play given I'm not an experienced 11 tabler and definitely pleased with the extra $ that'll help get me back up the limits.

I'm currently playing my first sunday million. I play the sats a lot but usually spread the $T. I'm surprised at how bad some of the players actually are and at this point (in the first break) with 8850 chips, facing a 13k average I'm lucky to still be in it.

Two interesting hands in particular come to mind:

This one just a few hands in vs the table donk who had just previously had his J4o taken to value town should peraps have been an early exit for me:

PokerStars Game #20954255244: Tournament #110939916, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (25/50) - 2008/10/05 16:36:55 ET
Table '110939916 482' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: krabbefar (11300 in chips)
Seat 3: Lyman Zerga (9925 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: BOULAE (7900 in chips)
Seat 5: iemins (10050 in chips)
Seat 7: diabelek68 (10850 in chips)
Seat 8: AceSweaty (9925 in chips)
Seat 9: Basyo (10050 in chips)
Lyman Zerga: posts small blind 25
BOULAE: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [Qd Tc]
iemins: folds
diabelek68: folds
AceSweaty: raises 150 to 200
Basyo: folds
krabbefar: calls 200
Lyman Zerga: folds
BOULAE: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h 4s]
BOULAE: checks
AceSweaty: bets 400
krabbefar: folds
BOULAE: calls 400
*** TURN *** [Qh 6h 4s] [Qs]
BOULAE: checks
AceSweaty: bets 800
BOULAE: calls 800
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6h 4s Qs] [9c]
BOULAE: checks
AceSweaty: bets 2200
BOULAE: calls 2200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AceSweaty: shows [Qd Tc] (three of a kind, Queens)
BOULAE: shows [6d 6c] (a full house, Sixes full of Queens)
BOULAE collected 7425 from pot

Hhhmmmm.

My 2nd lifeline was a bit more unjust:

PokerStars Game #20955510518: Tournament #110939916, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (150/300) - 2008/10/05 17:19:04 ET
Table '110939916 39' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: AceSweaty (5750 in chips)
Seat 2: plch (16775 in chips)
Seat 3: vote4doug (8275 in chips)
Seat 4: Conno!!y (3850 in chips)
Seat 5: StingerVV (8400 in chips)
Seat 6: PILL IVY (12725 in chips)
Seat 7: stratkomb99r (9050 in chips)
Seat 8: hansou (15300 in chips)
Seat 9: Kenneys69 (6900 in chips)
Conno!!y: posts small blind 150
StingerVV: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [9s 9c]
PILL IVY: folds
stratkomb99r: folds
hansou: folds
Kenneys69: folds
AceSweaty: raises 600 to 900
plch: folds
vote4doug: folds
Conno!!y: raises 2950 to 3850 and is all-in
StingerVV: folds
AceSweaty: calls 2950
*** FLOP *** [3h 9d Qs]
*** TURN *** [3h 9d Qs] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [3h 9d Qs Kd] [4h]
Conno!!y said, "gfy"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Conno!!y: shows [As Ac] (a pair of Aces)
AceSweaty: shows [9s 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
AceSweaty collected 8000 from pot
teamfranklin is connected

Anyway, better get back to the action.

Moving on up! I like my play here vs the 24/24 opener and a very solid player OTB with no reason to trap a squeeze:

PokerStars Game #20956782035: Tournament #110939916, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (300/600) - 2008/10/05 18:04:01 ET
Table '110939916 39' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: AceSweaty (14950 in chips)
Seat 2: plch (10375 in chips)
Seat 3: eureka420 (15140 in chips)
Seat 4: teamfranklin (25920 in chips)
Seat 5: StingerVV (18670 in chips)
Seat 6: PILL IVY (17615 in chips)
Seat 7: stratkomb99r (14700 in chips)
Seat 8: hansou (12025 in chips)
Seat 9: Shankar825 (9215 in chips)
Shankar825: posts small blind 300
AceSweaty: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [Js Ac]
plch: folds
eureka420: folds
teamfranklin: raises 898 to 1498
StingerVV: folds
PILL IVY: folds
stratkomb99r: folds
hansou: calls 1498
Shankar825: folds
AceSweaty: raises 2702 to 4200
teamfranklin: folds
hansou: folds
Uncalled bet (2702) returned to AceSweaty
AceSweaty collected 4794 from pot

At the 2nd break I'm still going. In a similar position to an hour ago, this time with 20k chips and a 26k average. So far I'm feeling pretty confident that my $11.70 investment is +EV but I don't have the best position at the table. I've got a real call stn to my left so all my preflop raises have to be big. The only really useful read I've got is on the guy to my immediate right. When shortstacked he seems to bet small some hands from EP and slowly get it in post flop but insta jams seemingly weaker holdings. Hopefully I'll get a hand vs me to confirm it. Here comes 500/1000 blinds and plenty of shoving light.

True to my word I shoved 5 consecutive hands including KK and AKs with no calls, my stack went up to 32k but with my image was ruined. Kind of made up for the table shuffle and losing all my reads.

So I made it to the third break just after my first questionable play vs the big stack to my left who's previous pot takedown prompted me to attempt a steal from the sb with QJo. EEEERRRRGH:

PokerStars Game #20959206771: Tournament #110939916, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (1000/2000) - 2008/10/05 19:42:37 ET
Table '110939916 217' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: bigbucky50 (14104 in chips)
Seat 2: grabskia (48223 in chips)
Seat 3: HELDIGEANTON (18725 in chips)
Seat 4: AceSweaty (41796 in chips)
Seat 5: Chancew (101347 in chips)
Seat 6: CORNDOGGOLF (21996 in chips)
Seat 7: pask57 (24775 in chips)
Seat 8: Kasy1 (38889 in chips)
Seat 9: UcfChamp (25339 in chips)
bigbucky50: posts the ante 200
grabskia: posts the ante 200
HELDIGEANTON: posts the ante 200
AceSweaty: posts the ante 200
Chancew: posts the ante 200
CORNDOGGOLF: posts the ante 200
pask57: posts the ante 200
Kasy1: posts the ante 200
UcfChamp: posts the ante 200
AceSweaty: posts small blind 1000
Chancew: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [Jh Qc]
CORNDOGGOLF: folds
pask57: folds
Kasy1: folds
UcfChamp: folds
bigbucky50 has timed out
bigbucky50: folds
bigbucky50 is sitting out
grabskia: folds
HELDIGEANTON: folds
bigbucky50 has returned
AceSweaty: raises 6000 to 8000
Chancew: raises 17800 to 25800
AceSweaty: folds
Uncalled bet (17800) returned to Chancew
Chancew collected 17800 from pot
Chancew: doesn't show hand

1261 left, 1080 paid $300-$184k. 33k chipstack and a 52k average- it's going in again very soon, who cares for $300 anyway? :P

Not me I'm a donk, out in 1157th. Not going to forget this one for a while:

PokerStars Game #20959616222: Tournament #110939916, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1250/2500) - 2008/10/05 20:00:01 ET
Table '110939916 217' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: bigbucky50 (8254 in chips)
Seat 2: grabskia (54373 in chips)
Seat 3: HELDIGEANTON (12875 in chips)
Seat 4: AceSweaty (29196 in chips)
Seat 5: Chancew (123647 in chips)
Seat 6: CORNDOGGOLF (16896 in chips)
Seat 7: pask57 (19425 in chips)
Seat 8: Kasy1 (39039 in chips)
Seat 9: UcfChamp (31489 in chips)
bigbucky50: posts the ante 250
grabskia: posts the ante 250
HELDIGEANTON: posts the ante 250
AceSweaty: posts the ante 250
Chancew: posts the ante 250
CORNDOGGOLF: posts the ante 250
pask57: posts the ante 250
Kasy1: posts the ante 250
UcfChamp: posts the ante 250
AceSweaty: posts small blind 1250
Chancew: posts big blind 2500
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AceSweaty [3d Ad]
Kasy1 is connected
CORNDOGGOLF: folds
pask57: folds
Kasy1: folds
UcfChamp: folds
bigbucky50 has timed out
bigbucky50: folds
bigbucky50 is sitting out
bigbucky50 has returned
grabskia: raises 4000 to 6500
HELDIGEANTON: folds
AceSweaty: raises 22446 to 28946 and is all-in
Chancew: folds
grabskia: calls 22446
*** FLOP *** [Ah 8c 9s]
*** TURN *** [Ah 8c 9s] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 8c 9s 6s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AceSweaty: shows [3d Ad] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
grabskia: shows [Ac As] (a full house, Aces full of Nines)
grabskia collected 62642 from pot
UcfChamp said, "nh"

So I've just qualified for ECOOP event #2 (LHE 6-max) on ipoker. Originally I only entered the qualifier to let off some steam after ruining my 50NL winrate with a few expensive bluffs. For a $25 rebuy the satellite was incredibly soft with plenty of open limping and half stack folding.

I think I'm looking forward to the tourny so much because large-field $215 limit tournys do not come around that often online, with the exception of that weekly sharkfest that can be found on pokerstars every Saturday. Whilst it's true that their popularity is pretty limited, I think there exists a huge myth about limit hold em MTTs:

A player's success is more dependent upon the cards dealt than it is in No-Limit tournies.

I believe this thinking to be flawed for several reasons:

1) In limit hold em tournys you never want to be all in without a big hand, this combined with the betting rules mean you've an incentive to see flops even in the late stages. So instead of just being able to shove that K8o from the button and hope for folds, you gain value from thinking about your opponents defense range and style in pre and post-flop play. On top of this you also find yourself able to fold hands like TT and JJ when you're shorter stacked but with the gift of community cards in front of you.

2) In NL tournys bad beats in the middle stages ore often fatal to a player's tournament success. This is not the case in LHE MTTs where they are less detrimental.

3) I would imagine that live Pro limit MTTers have an ROI similar to that of their NL counterparts. I don't know if this is the case online probably because these tournys are now few and far between.

But anyway if anyone else is playing in this event, feel free to PM me for hands discussion and the rail.

I've had a few quick sessions going back to 1 tabling the micros. On stars' super fast tables it's been disastrous but on crypto I feel I've gotten my HU mojo back with 2 or 3 good sessions ending in one today where for 10 minutes and 27 short hands of poker variance and stupidity decided to sit out and I owned the guy's soul for 2 buy-ins.

On a different note does anyone remember that simpsons episode where Homer becomes morbidly obese and he goes into the clothes shop to order a 'moo moo'? Large European guys - if you ever order clothing from PokerStars, don't make the same mistake as I have, get a medium.

I accidently timed out of all but one of my tables while taking a break during the 7th hour. Anyhoo this was about the best progress I made at a single table which came at exactly halfway through the challenge after 5 hours (sorry about the sizing):

So 6 and a half buy-ins was all I could manage 6 tabling.
Lessons learnt:
- Even the worse players seem to nit up after donating 3 or 4 buy-ins.
- Don't semi bluff, ever. Just wait to hit.
- Variance is still a... even away from the HU tables
- 6-max isn't as boring as I remember and 25 and 50NL CR members I'll be seeing ya soon

I'll certainly give it another go sometime, even though it is really hard to forget you're not just at the penny tables for a quick gambool.

I might be playing the million tonight but definitely the '200'k bingo, I'm feeling a 3 figure cash in it at least.

Here are a few hands from my challenge if anyone's interested:

1) Attempt at Isolating a tilter with my aggro image (the initial min 3 bettor), of course at the time I thought the river card had put me right back in the challenge:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 2: nordcat78 ($13.40) -
Seat 3: KRAMPUSZ1 ($5.70) -
Seat 4: AdamLee05 ($6.45) -
Seat 5: Kojak2112 ($11.50)
Seat 6: AceSweaty ($41.80)


PRE-FLOP:

KRAMPUSZ1 posts small blind $0.05
AdamLee05 posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: AceSweaty


CALL Kojak2112 ($0.10)
RAISE AceSweaty ($0.50)
FOLD nordcat78
RAISE KRAMPUSZ1 ($0.90)
FOLD AdamLee05
CALL Kojak2112 ($0.80)
RAISE AceSweaty ($5)
FOLD KRAMPUSZ1
CALL Kojak2112 ($4.10)


FLOP:

Pot: $11.55


BET Kojak2112 ($6.50)
CALL AceSweaty ($6.50)


TURN:

Pot: $24.55




RIVER:

Pot: $24.55




SHOWDOWN:
Kojak2112:

MUCK AceSweaty

Kojak2112 collected $22.85 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $24 Rake: $1.15

Final Board:


Seat 2: nordcat78 button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: KRAMPUSZ1 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.9)
Seat 4: AdamLee05 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 5: Kojak2112 showed [Js Th] and won 22.85 with a full house, Jacks full of Tens - Net Gain/Loss: ($16.35)

Seat 6: AceSweaty mucked [Kd Ad] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-4.6)


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2) A metagame (<-- buzzword) play I'd recommend to all microstakers - I couldn't resist, it had to work once.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: VallerK ($9.30)
Seat 2: AceSweaty ($15.30) -
Seat 4: zebe111 ($11.10) -
Seat 5: RaaisyDaisy ($12.40) -
Seat 6: sense datum ($13.70)


PRE-FLOP:

zebe111 posts small blind $0.05
RaaisyDaisy posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: AceSweaty


FOLD sense datum
FOLD VallerK
RAISE AceSweaty ($0.40)
FOLD zebe111
RAISE RaaisyDaisy ($1.20)
RAISE AceSweaty ($3.60)
FOLD RaaisyDaisy
AceSweaty:


AceSweaty collected $2.45 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $2 Rake: $0

Seat 1: VallerK folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: AceSweaty button collected 2.45 - Net Gain/Loss: ($0.95)
Seat 4: zebe111 small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.05)
Seat 5: RaaisyDaisy big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1.2)
Seat 6: sense datum folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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Hello everyone, I'm Steve a new member here at CR. So here's a quick bit about me:

Name: Steve Russell
Occupation: Temporarily seeking whilst not claiming (thanks to poker)
Game: The all in one
Other games: Minbet
Stakes: Everything up to 0.5/1 in both in all formats
Biggest Poker Achievement: Taking down my first proper live tournament and having the patience to build a bankroll playing micro minbet MTT's
Current Game: No idea

I've been playing 100NL HU and after adding an extra table to clear the last 4% of a crypto bonus before midnight 31st July, I now have a spew story to join the thousands of others all over the net. Recently I've been playing micro NL Tournys with a pretty good ROI but need something less time consuming.
So what about 6-max cash? I used to beat 25NL for 12PTBB/100 but my latest dabbles in 50NL 6-max have ended breakeven with the tendencies from HU inevitably taking over - with Jacks being good for a stack from anyone in any position preflop and 2nd pair always being favourite for at least 2 barrels.

So in light of my recent failures I'm setting myself a grinding challenge for my new $100 stars roll on Sunday 10th August in order to get me back where the action is. Whilst most of you will be chip leaders in your sunday major satellites I'll be at the 10NL 6-max tables doing my own horrible self challenge...

10 with 10 within 10
My aim: to be sitting at a 10NL table with 10 buyins within 10 hours. I'm going to need to run pretty hot and hope the seats stay filled.

Results and screenshots to come.